CAMBRIDGE IGCSETM ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE: UNIT 3 EXTRACT SHEETS
Text 3.1
Things they don’t tell you about fast food
[1] Fast food may seem quite (a) . . . , but it has [4] Just because something on the menu sounds
more secrets than you can imagine. The negative healthy, that doesn’t mean it is, and this is our third
side of fast food is that it may make you feel secret: food that sounds healthy is sometimes
unwell and cause you to become overweight. It worse than food that seems like it’s bad for you.
can also seriously empty your wallet! But on the As an example, one fast-food restaurant offers
positive side, if you understand the secrets and a thin-based pizza with plenty of vegetables and
follow our advice, you can eat more healthily, without any cheese or meat. It sounds as healthy
control your weight and not be out of pocket. as you can get with pizza, right? But just two
slices of this contain 1300 calories, 60 g of fat
[2] The first secret: according to one study that
and a large amount of sodium, (f) . . . to send
included nearly 900 participants, even if you
your blood (g) . . . rocketing. In some fast-food
generally enjoy a healthy diet, eating even a small
outlets, even the salad options were found to be
amount of fast food can increase the risk of feeling
sprinkled with chemicals to keep them looking
depressed. And anyone who frequently eats
fresh. Our advice? Don’t be fooled into buying
greasy burgers, nuggets and fries is at a greater
something just because it sounds healthy. Read all
risk (more than 50%) of becoming depressed than
the information very carefully before you order.
those who never touch them. However, if you
reduce your fast- food habit to a couple of times [5] Many of us believe that buying fast food is an
per month or less, and only get your fast food from inexpensive option, but our fourth secret is that
healthy outlets such as salad bars, you are less this is simply not true. If you’re prepared to cook
likely to feel depressed. at home, going to a supermarket and choosing
ingredients for a meal can work out (h) . . .
[3] Secret number two is that the (b) . . . of people
cheaper than ordering a takeaway meal.
have no idea how many calories they are (c)
. . . when they have a burger with fries. Recent [6] Our fifth and final secret is about that delicious
research involved asking nearly 2000 adults, barbecue taste of fire and smoke. If the food is
more than 300 schoolchildren and just over 1000 cooked inside a restaurant, where does that taste
teenagers how many calories they thought their come from? A lot of fast food is described as
fast food contained. Compared with the (d) . . . containing ‘natural smoke flavour’ but, believe it
data, the research participants (e) . . . the number or not, this is commercially produced and sold
of calories by around 200, or by about 40%. to fast-food outlets to add to their menu items
Our advice is to check the calories on the artificially. The only advice we can offer is (i) . . .
menu and try to choose not to be (j) . . . !
something with 500
[7] Hopefully now that you know these five
calories or less.
fast-food secrets, you can make more informed
choices about what you buy and eat. We hope
this will make you feel healthier, be more in control
of your body, and perhaps even save some money
at the same time.
Cambridge IGCSETM English as a Second Language – Lucantoni © Cambridge University Press 2022
